The 2024-25 Liberty League Women's Swimming & Diving major awards as voted by the conference's head coaches following NCAA Championships.
Swimmer of the Year: Shannon Brown, Senior, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
RPI senior Shannon Brown was recognized as the Liberty League Swimmer of the Year. Brown won a pair of individual events and anchored two winning relays for the Engineers at the 2025 Liberty League Championship en route to being named Swimmer of the Meet for the second straight year. She broke her own meet record set last year in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 51.38 seconds and in the 200-yard freestyle, she narrowly won the event by 0.06 seconds, touching the wall in 1:52.69. She along with teammates Sierra Pargett, Colleen Whittaker, and Vera Korff won the 200-yard freestyle relay by over two seconds with a NCAA B-cut and Liberty League record time of 1:34.24. In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Brown, Pargett, Whitaker, and Elizabeth Rose recorded a victory with another NCAA B-cut and championship record time, 3:26.67. Brown was also the runner-up in the 200-yard individual medley (2:06.17) and took part in RPI’s second-place 400-yard medley relay (3:51.74) and third-place 200-yard medley relay (1:46.48). She qualified for the 2025 NCAA Division III Championship in both freestyle events as well as the 400-yard freestyle relay. She earned second team All-America accolades in the relay as she combined with Pargett, Whittaker, and Rose for a time of 3:27.24, good for 14th. As an individual, she finished 18th in the 200 freestyle prelims (1:34.54) and was 42nd in the 100 freestyle prelims (51.75).
Diver of the Year: Kailee Payne, Senior, Ithaca College
Ithaca College senior Kailee Payne was named the Liberty League Diver of the Year for the second consecutive season. She continued to dominate the diving boards, sweeping both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives at the Liberty League Championship for the second straight year. From the 1-meter board, she tallied a score of 553.65, shattering her own championship record of 533.40 from 2024. On the 3-meter board, she earned a score of 558.95 to finish atop the leaderboard. Payne also swept both boards at the NCAA Region IV Diving Regionals with scores of 460.60 (1-meter) and 527.30 (3-meter) to qualify for her second national championship in both events. At the championship, she repeated as the National Champion on the 1-meter board and 3-meter board. From the 1-meter, Payne totaled a score of 486.30, edging the runner-up by 15.55 points. She followed that up by breaking the NCAA Division III 3-meter record with a preliminary score of 530.95. Payne won the final by 21.15 points with a final score of 522.80. Payne was named the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Division III Diver of the Year at the conclusion of the NCAA championship, and she was recognized as Liberty League Diver of the Week 13 times this season.
Rookie of the Year: Claire Weppler, Ithaca College
Ithaca College first-year Claire Weppler earned Liberty League Rookie of the Year honors. At her first conference championship in February, she won the 400-yard individual medley with a personal best time of 4:33.7 and a margin of victory of nearly six seconds. She also garnered All-Liberty League Third Team accolades, placing third in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:22.47) and was seventh in the 200-yard individual medley (2:10.05). Weppler scored the most individual points at the Liberty League Championship among all first-year swimmers. Her regular season was highlighted by a victory in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:22.66) in a dual meet against Gannon as well as a runner-up showing in the event against RIT (2:27.26). She also finished third in the 200 breaststroke at the Bomber Invitational with a time of 2:23.24.
Coaching Staff of the Year: Ithaca College – Head Coach Mike Blakely-Armitage; Diving Coach Chris Griffin, Assistant Coaches Noah Beck and Paula Miller; Graduate Assistant Coaches Aubrey Syron and Lara Mitchell
Ithaca head coach Mike Blakely-Armitage and his staff garnered Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year accolades. The Bombers went 6-4 in dual meets, finished second at RPI’s Kumpf Invitational and won their own invitational in December. Ithaca claimed its sixth consecutive Liberty League Swimming & Diving title totaling 1,700 points over the four-day championship and eclipsing the runner-up by 220.5. The Bombers’ depth was on full display with seven individual victories, six runner-up finishes, and six that placed third. All five relays earned All-Liberty League honors and Ithaca won the 800-yard freestyle relay. A trio of divers (Kailee Payne, Angela Burke, Jenell Slesser) qualified for the NCAA Division III Championship where Payne swept the boards and was the national champion in both events for the second straight year. Burke was a second-team All-American with an 11th-place finish in the 3-meter dive. Burke was also 21st in the 1-meter while Slesser finished 18th (3-meter) and 23rd (1-meter).
ALL-LIBERTY LEAGUE FIRST TEAM (Event Champions at Liberty League Championship)
1-Meter Diving – Kailee Payne, Ithaca
3-Meter Diving – Kailee Payne, Ithaca
100 Backstroke – Rose LaDue, RIT
200 Backstroke – Samantha Bender, Ithaca
100 Breaststroke – Colleen Whittaker, RPI
200 Breaststroke – Sydney Koehler, Ithaca
100 Butterfly – Kathleen Papiernik, Ithaca
200 Butterfly – Hannah Goddard, RPI
50 Freestyle – Vera Korff, RPI
100 Freestyle – Shannon Brown, RPI
200 Freestyle – Shannon Brown, RPI
500 Freestyle – Addie Wiener, Vassar
1650 Freestyle – Gwenyth Snyder, RPI
200 Individual Medley – Kathleen Papiernik, Ithaca
400 Individual Medley – Claire Weppler, Ithaca
200 Freestyle Relay – RPI (V. Korff, S. Pargett, C. Whittaker, S. Brown)
400 Freestyle Relay – RPI (S. Pargett, C. Whittaker, E. Rose, S. Brown)
800 Freestyle Relay – Ithaca (N. Fry, K. Papiernik, A. Palfreyman, S. Bender)
200 Medley Relay – RIT (R. LaDue, A. Peshenko, A. Rieger, A. Beahan
400 Medley Relay – RIT (R. LaDue, A. Peshenko, M. Metivier, A. Beahan)
Note: The Liberty League also recognizes second-place finishes at the championship as All-Liberty League Second Team and third place garners All-Liberty League Third Team honors.